Container

ABSTRACT

A container having rigid handles extending outside the rim on opposite sides of the container and connected to the rim by tapered flexible hinge members. The container rim and handles and hinge section comprise a single piece of plastic and each handle and its associated hinge member and portion of the rim have a parting line in a common plane.

United States Patent 1191 Cloyd 1 May 20, 1975 [54] CONTAINER 3,144,950 8/1964 Rosenheim 220/94 R 3,278,074 10/1966 Yamazaki 220/94 R [7'51 Invent Harolds- Elle 3,301,430 1/1967 Cornelius 220/31 s 73 Assigneez Nosco plastics, Incorporated, E i 3,469,732 9/1969 Foster 220/31 S Pa 3,529,317 9/1970 Schwarzkopk 229/54 R 3,616,487 11/1971 Dearth 220/31 s [221 Filed: Dec. 26, 1972 3,627,113 12/1971 1311616 220/94 A 3,747,802 7/1973 Urosheuich 220 31 s Appl. N6; 318,669

[52] US. Cl. 220/94 A; 220/74 [51] Int. Cl. B65d 25/28 [58] Field of Search 220/94 A, 31 S, 72, 74, 220/D1G. l4, DIG. 15, 94 R, DIG. 2, 339; 229/2 S, 52 B, 54, 55; 190/39, 57; 150/12; D8/154; D7/10 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,257,119 2/1918 Reynolds 22/94 A 2,131,663 9/1938 Hughes 2,992,501 7/1961 Douglas 220/31 S Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Assistant Examiner-Allan N. Shoap [5 7] ABSTRACT A container having rigid handles extending outside the rim on opposite sides of the container and connected to the rim by tapered flexible hinge members. The container rim and handles and hinge section comprise a single piece of plastic and each handle and its associated hinge member and portion of the rim have a parting line in a common plane.

2=Claims, 2 Drawing Figures FIG./

ATENTED MAY 2 01975 F/GZ CONTAINER This invention is a container having rigid handles projecting outward from portions of the rim on opposite sides of the container and connected to such portions of the rim by flexing hinge sections of tapered cross section with the thickest section at said rim portions. The container hinge sections and handles are molded from a single piece of flexible plastic having a parting line in a plane common to the rim, hinge sections and handles.

In the drawing,

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the container, the right hand side being a top plan view and the left hand side being a bottom plan view; and

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1.

The container has a side wall 1 terminating at its upper edge in a peripheral rim 2. The particular container rim is of generally arcuate or circular outline but other configurations could be used. The rim has outwardly and downwardly extending peripheral flanges 3, 4.

On opposite sides of the container are handles 5 extending outwardly from the rim. Each handle has a rigid frame of [beam or other rigid section. The frame member 6 nearest the rim is preferably straight and parallel to a section 4a of the flange 4. The section 7 of the handle frame farthest from the rim is shaped to provide a hand hold with arcuate finger gripping portions 8. The frame members 6 and 7 are connected to each other at opposite ends through frame members 9 and 10.

The handles are connected to the portions of the rim including the stiffening flange 4a through flexible hinge sections 11 of tapered cross section. The thickest portion 11a of the hinge sections 11 is integral with the section 4a of the flange 4 and the thinnest portion is integral with the handle. Under load, the handles swing up to a near vertical position as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 with the flexure of shortest radius of curvature occurring in the thinnest section 11b of the hinge member. This does not over stress the hinge member since the load at section 1112 is more nearly in direct tension. The tapered section of the hinge members 11 causes a gradually increasing flexure from 11a to llb which distributes the stress at the junction to the flange section 4a and reduces the likelihood of fracture under repeated lifting of the container.

To rigidify the section 4a of the flange 4 at which the load is transmitted from the rim of the container to the handle, reinforcing ribs 12 are provided between the flange 4a and the wall I of the container. The hinge members may be provided with cut-out sections 13 which in effect break up the hinges 11 into a plurality of separate units, each of which is capable of carrying the load. The separate units prevent propagation of a tear from one unit to another. If the sections 13 were omitted, a tear starting at one edge could run across the entire width of the hinge.

The contaner handle and hinge sections are adapted to molding from a single piece of flexible plastic such as low density polyethylene in a simple mold having a parting line 14 lying in a plane common to the rim, hinge elements and handles as shown in FIG. 2. This simplifies the molding.

The particular container shown was designed for handling pound loads of shrimp for processing but the container obviously is not limited to that use.

The container is suited for meat products since there are no crevices in which contaminants can collect.

What is claimed is:

l. A container having an upwardly extending peripheral side wall terminating at its upper edge in a rim, rigid handles on opposite sides of the container, each handle having a rigid frame spaced from and extending outward from a portion of the rim, said frame having a first member closer to said portion of the rim and a second member farther from the said portion of the rim and providing a hand hold, said portion of the rim having outwardly and downwardly extending flanges with the downwardly extending flange outermost, a flexible hinge member bridging the space between and joined to said downwardly extending flange and to said first member, said first member and said downwardly extending flange being straight and parallel to each other in plan view, said side wall, rim, handles and hinge sections comprising a single piece of plastic, each handle and its associated hinge member and portion of the rim having a parting line substantially in a common plane and vertical ribs extending between and joined to said side wall and said flanges.

2. The container of claim 1 in which said side wall at said portion of the rim is arcuate in plan view. 

1. A container having an upwardly extending peripheral side wall terminating at its upper edge in a rim, rigid handles on opposite sides of the container, each handle having a rigid frame spaced from and extending outward from a portion of the rim, said frame having a first member closer to said portion of the rim and a second member farther from the said portion of the rim and providing a hand hold, said portion of the rim having outwardly and downwardly extending flanges with the downwardly extending flange outermost, a flexible hinge member bridging the space between and joined to said downwardly extending flange and to said first member, said first member and said downwardly extending flange being straight and parallel to each other in plan view, said side wall, rim, handles and hinge sections comprising a single piece of plastic, each handle and its associated hinge member and portion of the rim having a parting line substantially in a common plane and vertical ribs extending between and joined to said side wall and said flanges.
 2. The container of claim 1 in which said side wall at said portion of the rim is arcuate in plan view. 